Michelin-starred chef David Myers will open a restaurant in Hollywood after his company, David Myers Group LLC, purchased the ground floor of the Lofts at Hollywood and Vine.
The $7.21 million deal with Paladin Realty Partners LLC closed Aug. 31. Paladin retains the upper floors of the 6253 Hollywood Blvd. tower, formerly the Equitable Building, which features 60 live-work and five office condos.
The 12,375-square-foot ground floor includes a bar, Dillon’s Irish Pub. Myers Group will now be the lessor of the pub’s 10-year lease, which has nine years left. The remaining 4,784 square feet of vacant space will house Myers’ restaurant.
The chef, whose stable includes Comme Ca in West Hollywood and Pizzeria Ortica in Costa Mesa, said he isn’t sure what sort of restaurant he will open, though he suspects it will be casual.
“We felt it was a great market for us to launch one of our concepts or a new concept,” said Myers, who expects the restaurant to open by the end of next year.
In May, Myers closed Sona, a fine-dining restaurant on La Cienega Boulevard in West Hollywood that was awarded one Michelin star in 2008, after splitting with partners. He opened a café in Tokyo this month and will open a Comme Ca in Las Vegas in December.
David Myers Group is a partnership of the chef and businessman Walter Schild, founder of Culver City marketing firm Genex. Schild said the deal was attractive because it was a sound commercial real estate investment and a “vertically integrated opportunity, where we are the landlord and the operator.”
There were about six offers on the property, which was listed in the first quarter for $7.9 million, according to broker Nicole Mihalka of Cushman & Wakefield Inc.
Jay Hartman, managing director of Westwood-based Paladin, said the company sold the ground floor because it is “trying to return money to investors.”
Anthony Muhlstein of Cushman & Wakefield also represented the seller. The buyer was represented by Chris Bonbright and David Landau of Ramsey-Shilling.
Medical Lease
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has signed a 10-year lease for an entire three-story office building at 825 N. San Vicente Blvd. near the hospital campus.
The Aug. 4 transaction with landlord Hilldale Investment Group LLC is valued at just under $11 million. The start rate of the triple net lease was not disclosed.
The 26,303-square-foot building was long occupied by New Line Cinema, which vacated about a year ago after the studio, in the wake of several box office bombs, was absorbed by Warner Bros. in 2008. The property was built in 1984 by the late Sheldon Andelson, a University of California regent, and his brothers. The Andelson family still owns the property through the Hilldale Investment entity.
“It’s a market (rate) deal in a very tough market,” said brother Arlen Andelson, a Beverly Hills-based real estate investor and retired attorney.
Ramsey-Shilling’s Bonbright, who represented the landlord, said the deal includes a $50-per-square-foot allotment from the landlord to help pay for Cedars’ conversion of the office property for an undisclosed medical use.
Cedars did not return calls seeking comment. The hospital’s broker, Todd Doney of CB Richard Ellis Group Inc., declined to comment.
Nico Vilgiate of CB Richard Ellis also represented the tenant.
Downey Deal
A 64,265-square-foot shopping center has traded hands in Downey for $11 million, according to sources with knowledge of the southeast Los Angeles County market.
The development at 9200 Lakewood Blvd., called Gallatin Plaza, is anchored by a Ralphs supermarket and a McDonald’s restaurant. The property was purchased Aug. 20 by an unnamed family trust, which bought the project from Gallatin Plaza LP, the entity of a San Juan Capistrano-based real estate investor.
Broker Jon Felznick, a retail specialist with Pacific Commercial Investments who represented the seller, said that there were 20 offers made on the property, with the family trust making the highest. Felznick declined to discuss the $11 million sale price obtained by the Business Journal, but termed the transaction on the healthy side of market rate. The deal breaks down to $171 per square foot for the building.
He said most grocery-anchored retail centers are owned by institutional investors that don’t often sell them since they tend to have strong tenants and produce steady income. In fact, the buyer had long been in search of such a center.
“As tough as times are, I have been looking (on behalf of) this buyer for four years for retail corner locations with major tenants that have some upside,” said Dave Maron of Stevenson Real Estate Services, who represented the buyer.
The upside at Gallatin Plaza comes in the form of vacancies. The project is 20 percent vacant, which will give the owner the chance to upgrade it and charge higher rents.
Maron also declined to discuss the financial terms. The buyer and seller could not be reached for comment.
Staff reporter Daniel Miller can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 263.
